HOME-GROWN PIT- WOOD. 1 3 



of home-grown timber to see that they can satisfy tlie needs of 

 the mines, for unless the demand for props can be met by a 

 constant supply the consumers will be driven back to the 

 oversea trade, with the result that the excellent market which 

 has now been established for home-grown pit-wood will speedily 

 revert to the pre-war standard of unremunerative inanition. 



4. Continental Notes— France. 



By A. G. Hobart-IIami'DEN. 



I. — French foresters are naturally thinking of how to repair the 

 damage done to their forests during the war. The damage is 

 due, either directly by the fighting, or by deliberate theft by the 

 enemy, or by the heavy requisitions of the army — requisitions 

 which, one gathers, often demand an exploitation exceeding the 

 " possibility." The second cause makes our friends very angry, 

 naturally, and they suggest that in the day of victory France 

 shall be indemnified from the German forests. 



While in France and Belgium the damage is principally 

 direct, in .Serbia, where the Austrians have been playing the 

 same game, the indirect harm done may be even greater than 

 the direct, by reason of the erosion which will result in this 

 mountainous country. 



The question of the species to be employed for the repair, and 

 often complete re-wooding, of these forest areas is all-important. 

 M. Jolyet thinks that in the main, and broadly speaking, Scots 

 pine should be most used, because of its rapid growth, its 

 comparative immunity from damage by frosts out of season, 

 and its light cover, which will allow of the natural introduction 

 of deciduous seedlings where there are deciduous seed-bearers at 

 hand. But the species will not do everywhere, and has three 

 special drawbacks, namely, its numerous enemies (insects and 

 fungi), its defective growth in thin soils, and its imperious 

 demand for light. The last would render it unsuited for 

 filling blanks, except in the middle of very large blanks, more 

 particularly when the trees surrounding the blanks are tali. 

 So M. Jolyet suggests the Austrian pine (by the way, they want 

 in future to call it the " black pine "), which has not these defects. 

 Before proceeding we may remark that the Austrian does not 



